Art and the Homeless

De minimus,  "diminishing," is a legal term for matters which do not rise to a sufficient level of importance for trial, in other words, trifles, or considerations to the value of a few dollars. A lawsuit which is de minimus can be dismissed as frivolous. De minimus is the short form of the Latin phrase, de minimus non curat lex, "The law does not care for petty matters." As a challenge for players of Trivial Pursuit it has, in common with amicus curiae,  the cognate word cura,  which means "care," in Latin. Even a cursory review, by search of the subject in published media discourse, tells of burgeoning docket of amicus curiae court briefs. It is a popular way of gaining standing—without standing—in court cases as a concerned person, or "friend." I call it publicity by paralegal. As any armchair attorney knows, an amicus curiae brief is of no consequence all by itself, apart from a certified appeal (with standing.) And, for the court to gr...

Quidquid luce fuit tenebris agit  -which means, "what starts by daylight is done after dark." I take this to mean the doing of legitimate business. In other words, business with nothing to hide, may justifiably continue after hours. Furthermore, I take the implied premise (enthymeme) of Nietzsche's Latin aphorism to be that what is begun by cover of darkness dare not continue by day. The exact nature of the implied “quidquid” is likewise left to the imagination.  Burglary comes to mind. The original Common Law definition of burglary is "the breaking and entering of someone else's dwelling at night with the intent to commit a felony." Although the crime of burglary now includes unauthorized entry at all times—day or night—the original intent was to make the wrongness of the act vivid in the mind of the jury. Picture, if the jury so pleases, the defendant as a “cat burglar.” My intent is to make vivid the wrongness of evicting homeless persons, indeed anyone u...

As homelessness is a controversial subject, I would be disingenuous to refuse to account for making it the subject of art. The "thing speaks for itself" argument just doesn't cut it. Essay question required. Proof of subject mastery. Despite the difficulties, however, I will persist in defending my thesis. You know the subject is valid, as well as I, and, by the principle of Aletheia (un-forgetting), I am confident that you, too, will come to agree with my argument.  Let's begin with what YOU know. Everybody, at some time in life, experiences a moment of being transfixed by events as they whirl 'round oneself, "dizzying," making one utterly incapable of taking action -even if that was possible.  I know you've been there before. Never seen anything like it. Jaw-dropping. Fascinating. Hypnotizing. Over-the-top. A Happening. Epic. And, regardless of how you feel about it, beyond judgment -almost beyond words. It is an instance of what the Greeks referr...

Which is the victim? The homeless, or those of us who have a home? Homelessness is wrong, as we all agree, but it is not wrong-doing. The homeless hurt none but themselves. What I find wrong is suffering from the suffering of others, accusing others of causing one's suffering. Am I callous because it is my firm opinion that nothing can be done about homelessness? There's no final solution to homelessness, nor should there be. You may feel relieved to know it is nobody's fault. That shouldn't be a problem, not, that is, unless laying blame is the object. Blame, as such (fault), is but a symptom of the complaint. The problem is that blame leads to recriminations, which means, in simple terms, punishment. Those who are not homeless fear being blamed for it, and, as a consequence, being punished for a social ill that they did not cause, and about which they can do nothing. Do you know the feeling? It is a vague feeling of guilt, carried-over from experience of injustice, re...